GFP and chromatography
This page has four parts, in the order you use them. Part 1 is what you need to know. Part 2 says what to do, in plain English. Part 3 shows the work done once on a case that is not yours. Part 4 is your own work and where to turn it in.
Open your materials, follow the steps, then turn in your work.
Explain how GFP and chromatography let you track and separate a target protein.
Optional: listen or watch a unit review▸
Part 1 of 4 · Background and definitions▸
💡 Big idea: A planned study connects its question to defined variables, controls, sampling, measurement, and analysis so the resulting data can support a bounded and reproducible conclusion.
- • , green fluorescent , a jellyfish protein that glows green under ultraviolet light, is fused to the target protein so you can see where the protein is, revealing which contains the protein.
- • Affinity uses a resin that binds the target specifically, letting other proteins wash through.
- • uses a competing molecule or change in buffer conditions to release the bound target .
Genetic evidence can support an inheritance, sequence, or expression explanation, but penetrance, regulation, environment, family structure, and test uncertainty can limit the conclusion.
A planned study connects its question to defined variables, controls, sampling, measurement, and analysis so the resulting data can support a bounded and reproducible conclusion.
Driving question: Our target is invisible and mixed with thousands of others in a clear liquid, so how do we know where it is and how do we pull it out without pulling out everything else?
What you already know: Genetic evidence can support an inheritance, sequence, or expression explanation, but penetrance, regulation, environment, family structure, and test uncertainty can limit the conclusion.
New idea: A planned study connects its question to defined variables, controls, sampling, measurement, and analysis so the resulting data can support a bounded and reproducible conclusion.
Visual or model: No figure is attached to this lesson. The readings, the worked example and E1 to E3 carry the evidence.
- Observe or measure the relevant feature in today's lesson.
- Organize the observation with a stable evidence ID.
- Apply this rule: Define variables, controls, sampling, units, and the analysis plan before interpreting a result; analysis cannot repair biased or inconsistent measurement.
- Choose the option the evidence supports and state the limit of the conclusion.
Real biomedical example: Today the medical interventions team uses and to make a bounded evidence decision. A statistical difference or trend does not automatically establish practical importance, causation, generalizability, or freedom from bias.
What the evidence supports: E1 to E3 support the daily take-home when the response meets the stated success criteria.
What it cannot prove: The package does not support claims beyond this lesson's or any real patient diagnosis.
- • : A lab technique that separates a mixture into its parts based on how fast each component travels through a material like paper or a gel.
- • : The step in a separation method where a solvent washes the target molecule off a column or material so it can be collected in pure form.
- • : In a separation, one of the numbered portions of liquid collected one after another as it runs off a column. Each tube holds whatever came out at that moment, so the target ends up in some tubes and not others.
- • : How free a sample is from contaminating substances, often given as the percentage of the sample that is the intended compound.
- • : A specific whose presence signals a particular cell type, disease, or biological state, used to identify or track it.
- • : A lab method that uses an electric field to pull fragments through a gel so they separate by size and show up as bands.
Use it now: Choose one decision option. Cite E1 and E3, then explain how the rule connects the evidence to your choice. This is thinking practice for the one turn-in named under Turn in, not a second submission.
Go further, optional: The source links below are optional enrichment. Every fact required for today's local evidence decision appears in this lesson package.
National Institute of Standards and Technology is the source this lesson's claim is checked against: What is experimental design?
Limit: A statistical difference or trend does not automatically establish practical importance, causation, generalizability, or freedom from bias.
Define variables, controls, sampling, units, and the analysis plan before interpreting a result; analysis cannot repair biased or inconsistent measurement.
Limit: A well-organized classroom study can still be limited by , measurement quality, confounding, and the population represented.
You can explain how marks the target .
Limit: E3 defines the classroom product or success criterion. It is not independent scientific evidence and cannot justify a clinical or causal claim.
Today's decision · Simulated classroom evidence scenario
Your role: medical interventions team member
Decision: Your team must decide what the evidence from today's lesson supports before submitting the notebook record named on today's page.
- • Hold off on calling the successful, because a labeled diagram shows the plan and no has been read yet.
- • Explain the green glow as the marker for which holds the target, since the itself is invisible.
- • Read the brightest tube as the purest one, because a stronger glow means fewer other proteins came along with it.
Response: State one choice, cite at least two evidence IDs, explain the rule that connects them, and add one limitation. Use it inside the one turn-in named under Turn in; it is not a separate submission.
Claim ceiling: Today's evidence supports a classroom claim about today's lesson. It cannot prove causation, diagnose a real patient, or justify action outside this room.
Reason for review: Your team must decide what the evidence from today's lesson supports before submitting the notebook record named on today's page.
Context: Today the medical interventions team uses and to make a bounded evidence decision. A statistical difference or trend does not automatically establish practical importance, causation, generalizability, or freedom from bias.
- • T1: Read the notes in the PLTW course shell and define chromatography and .
- • T2: Explain why glowing under UV light marks where the target is.
- • T3: Diagram a binding to a column and then eluting in a chosen .
- • T4: Predict which should glow if worked.
- • T5: Submit a labeled diagram as PLTW tracker evidence.
- • E1: National Institute of Standards and Technology is the source this lesson's claim is checked against: What is experimental design?
- • E2: Define variables, controls, sampling, units, and the analysis plan before interpreting a result; analysis cannot repair biased or inconsistent measurement.
- • E3: You can explain how marks the target .
Measurements: Use only the measurements, units, graph, or counts supplied in today's task. No additional patient measurement is implied.
Uncertainty: This is a composite classroom scenario. Missing history, measurements, or confirmation tests remain unknown and limit the conclusion.
Students often think a polished answer about and is trustworthy even when its evidence source, comparison, or limitation is missing. The trap: Presentation quality cannot raise the evidence level. A statistical difference or trend does not automatically establish practical importance, causation, generalizability, or freedom from bias.
- CER:
- Claim, Evidence, Reasoning: make a claim, back it with evidence, explain your reasoning.
- SOP:
- Standard Operating Procedure, the exact steps to follow (especially in a lab).
- Tracker:
- Your PLTW progress log where you record completed evidence.
- myPLTW:
- The PLTW course site where you do the online activities. Find it in Clever with your Microsoft sign-in, right next to Schoology.
Tap the speaker to hear a term. Add two of these to your notebook glossary with a definition and an example in your own words.
Pick just 2 or 3 words from today and make them yours: write what each one means in your own words, name the context clue or evidence that helped, then give one example from what you actually did in GFP and chromatography. Try your own words first; the glossary is there if you get stuck. This is voluntary and counts as extra credit, so keep it short.
Saved on this device. Show Mr. Mendoza or add these to your notebook glossary to claim the extra credit.
Part 2 of 4 · Directions in plain English▸
2.1 Open your materials
Use the materials named in the first step below. Open lesson resources.
2.2 Start the work
Read the chromatography notes in the PLTW course shell and define chromatography and elution.
Show all 5 required steps
- Read the chromatography notes in the PLTW course shell and define chromatography and elution.
- Explain why GFP glowing under UV light marks where the target protein is.
- Diagram a protein binding to a column and then eluting in a chosen fraction.
- Predict which fraction should glow if purification worked.
- Submit a labeled chromatography diagram as PLTW tracker evidence.
Lost your place? Reopen today's GFP and chromatography record. Find the last completed evidence ID, check it against the claim ceiling, and continue with the first unfinished step rather than restarting the whole task.
- 0-10Read notes; define chromatography and
- 10-25Explain reporter mechanism; annotate UV signal
- 25-45Diagram binding to column resin and wash steps
- 45-58Add step to diagram; label target
- 58-70Predict which numbered glows; write prediction
- 70-80Submit labeled diagram to tracker; confirm lab readiness
- • Tomorrow you run the column, so today you need to understand what it is actually doing.
- • is the tracking beacon: wherever it glows, your is.
- • is the separation engine: it holds your while everything else washes away.
- • Understanding affinity and is a Lab SOPs and Molecular Technology skill on the WebXam.
PLTW connection and today's work
Open Activity 4.1.3 Protein Purification in myPLTW and diagram how GFP and affinity chromatography track and separate the target protein.
Today's stopping point: Annotated expression notes should be done; chromatography diagram due today.
PLTW activity titles identify the course connection. If your account will not open, use the posted materials for today and tell Mr. Mendoza. Do not mark an online activity complete unless you completed it.
Course connection
- Activity 4.1.3 Protein Purification
Use the turn-in directions in Part 4 of this page. Do not create a second submission unless your teacher asks for one.
Show another explanation or a smaller first step
Need help? Choose a starting point
Part 3 of 4 · Worked example▸
This is a parallel case, not your own. Read it for the order of the work, then do your own in Part 4.
Definitions:
- Chromatography: a method that separates proteins by how strongly they bind to a material (resin) in a column.
- Elution: releasing the bound target protein from the resin so it flows out into a collected fraction.
Why GFP helps: GFP is fused to the target protein and glows green under UV light, so wherever the green glow is, the target protein is. That lets me see an otherwise invisible protein.
The steps, labeled:
1. Load: the protein mixture is added to the column; the target binds the resin while other proteins start to wash through.
2. Wash: buffer rinses away the unbound contaminants.
3. Elute: a change in buffer releases the target protein into the collected fractions.
Prediction: if purification worked, the elution fractions are the ones that should glow green under UV, because that is where the target protein comes off the column.
This model shows the level of evidence and organization needed to complete: Completes the chromatography task: a labeled diagram showing protein binding to the column, washing, elution, fraction collection, and a GFP signal prediction.
- Date and label the entry.
- Record the procedure, observation, or design decision clearly.
- End with what the evidence means and the next step.
Keep the structure. Replace the question, facts, measurements, and evidence. Then recheck units, vocabulary, and whether the conclusion goes beyond the evidence.
Also due today: Attach your labeled chromatography diagram to your PLTW tracker and submit it in Schoology.
A research team lays out its question, variables, controls, sampling plan, measurement record, and analysis before deciding what the data support.
- Which variable is changed or compared?
- Which conditions and measurements must stay consistent?
- Which conclusion is inside the study's evidence boundary?
Define variables, controls, sampling, units, and the analysis plan before interpreting a result; analysis cannot repair biased or inconsistent measurement.
A well-organized classroom study can still be limited by , measurement quality, confounding, and the population represented.
- • Question and variable cards map to the study design.
- • Control and measurement cards map to fair, reproducible data collection.
- • The conclusion card maps to a bounded claim supported by the analysis.
Part 4 of 4 · Your work▸
Check your work before submitting
- You'll be able to explain how GFP marks the target protein.
- You'll be able to describe how chromatography separates and elutes proteins.
4.1 Turn in your work
DueCheck the Schoology assignment for this day- Hand in
- Labeled chromatography diagram showing protein binding, wash, elution, fraction collection, and GFP signal prediction.
How to submit and name your file
Submit as one PDF in Schoology.
In Schoology, open your course and the assignment for this lesson. Attach your file, select Submit, and check that it appears in the submission.
PDF upload helpYou get two school days for every day you were absent, so this deadline moves with you.
Today's lesson is in Schoology
Each school day has one lesson page in Schoology that holds everything for the day: the goal, the story so far, every table and data value, the numbered steps, and what to turn in. Open it first and work from it. The other rows for this day, if any, are the score line for a paper quiz or test and the John Carroll debate item; they do not add work. Check Schoology for each deadline.
- Today's Lesson · Wed 12/9 · Wk16 · Aseptic technique at the bench, then live and dead cells, a dose series, and freezing cells(today's lesson page: the goal, the data, the steps, and what to turn in are all on it)
Link will not open? Open Schoology, choose your course and section, and find the title shown above.
- CompleteEvery required part of the artifact is present, nothing left blank.
- AccurateThe science and the data are correct and match the evidence.
- Scientific reasoningYou explain your claim with evidence and reasoning (CER), not just an answer.
- Professional communicationClear, organized, labeled, and written the way a clinician or scientist would.
- SubmittedGo to Schoology to turn this in. Submit one PDF. Schoology attaches your name to your upload; on the page itself, write your period and code. Name the file: FirstName LastName - Assignment Title - YYYY-MM-DD.pdf. If you cannot get in, see Mr. Mendoza. Do not skip the work.
How this lesson connects
Keep using what you learned last class: Genetic evidence can support an inheritance, sequence, or expression explanation, but penetrance, regulation, environment, family structure, and test uncertainty can limit the conclusion. Today: A planned study connects its question to defined variables, controls, sampling, measurement, and analysis so the resulting data can support a bounded and reproducible conclusion.
Practice: try a question, then check your answer▸
Claim ceiling for this check: Today's evidence supports a classroom claim about today's lesson. It cannot prove causation, diagnose a real patient, or justify action outside this room.
A student treats one classroom result about GFP and chromatography as proof. What must the student add before the conclusion is defensible?
Write an answer and pick a confidence to unlock the key.
Missed class or ready for more?▸
Optional practice for this unit's lab skills. Nothing in it is due today.
What today's skills lead to. These are real health-science careers this course builds toward. Tap one to see, on the US Department of Labor's O*NET site, what the job actually involves, what it pays, and how fast it is growing.
Today is individual work you can do from home: complete the same target above, then submit your Notebook check.
Go to Schoology to turn this in. Submit one PDF. Schoology attaches your name to your upload; on the page itself, write your period and code. Name the file: FirstName LastName - Assignment Title - YYYY-MM-DD.pdf. If you cannot get in, see Mr. Mendoza. Do not skip the work.
Class still runs. Complete today's work as this page describes (it is self-guided). Need the concept taught without a teacher? Use this authoritative explainer:
Genetic Science Learning Center: Genetics basics and proteinsThe optional extra-credit track is open. Complete reserved-unit work from home, including virtual labs, for extra credit. Each item shows its correct submission route.
Open the extra-credit trackSources: slides, readings, and resources▸
The deck carries the prior idea forward, lets you inspect an analogy, maps the rule to biology, and ends with the same evidence decision and exit ticket used on this page.
Classroom documents for this lesson are posted in Schoology. Open Clever, then Schoology, and find each one by the name shown on its card.
Open this when the class reaches this activity and use it to complete the required lesson artifact.
Open this when the class reaches this activity and use it to complete the required lesson artifact.
Use this if you were absent, got stuck, or need another pass before you submit the lesson artifact.
Sign in to Clever with your district Microsoft account to open Schoology or myPLTW. Follow today's posted steps. If myPLTW will not open, use the posted alternative and tell Mr. Mendoza. Turn in your completed work through the Schoology assignment.
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